


Seven Dates

by Rich_Ramblings



Series: Seven Dates [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Future, Architect Sawamura Daichi, Background Relationships, Future Fic, Gen, Haikyuu- Future, Implied Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi, M/M, Teacher Sugawara Koushi, UkaixTakeda, daisuga - Freeform, ukatake
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-03
Updated: 2017-08-13
Packaged: 2018-12-10 14:52:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11693982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rich_Ramblings/pseuds/Rich_Ramblings
Summary: Can thirty years be saved in seven days?





	1. Date Zero

“If you feed a dog every day, it lives." Sugawara gasped between laboured breaths, gritting his teeth and willing his legs to stretch just a little further, to run just a little faster.  
"Yes." Replied Daichi without much emotion.  
"If you kick a dog every day and then feed it, it lives, always with the knowledge that pain comes before reward." Continued Suga, finally pulling even with his companion. He tried to look at him critically, but found the mountain path was too rocky and the dawn light too weak to do so safely. Within a few paces the narrowness of the trail forced him to fall back again, scowling at the back of Daichi's head.  
"Yes." Same unaffected reply.  
"But if some days you only kick the dog and some days you only feed the dog, it dies." The words were short and truncated.  
"Are you implying that I need to feed you more often or that I should kick you more regularly?" How did he do it? Have such monumental lung capacity?  
"I'm _implying_ that some of us like to sleep in on Saturdays."  
Finally Daichi gave a reply that wasn't cold hearted and even. A small chuckle, quiet enough that Suga almost missed it over the crunching of the stones underfoot. "We're almost there.”  
“So...There is an end goal to this...We’re not just...Running forever.” Suga managed. Daichi huffed a breath out of his nose, an almost laugh.  
“Hurry a little bit and we'll catch the sun rise." Daichi picked up his pace and was soon twenty or so feet ahead, not looking back.  
"I thought we _were_ hurrying." Suga grumbled, following after at a stubbornly slower rate. Within a few minutes, having lost his companion entirely and having run purely on instinct and hope, he emerged into a clearing and slowed to a walk. His breath came in ragged gasps, and he reminded himself to work out more. What had happened to all his athleticism from high school? Clearly Daichi had kept his, at ease as he looked stretching at the edge of the cliff in front of them. Past that, the still slumbering city spread out, some lights twinkling but most still waiting to wake up for the day. It was the opposite for the stars; they glimmered high above the mountains in the royal blue sky, but those near the horizon were starting to blink out one by one as the orange crown of the sun began to peek up. How much of it could Daichi see without his glasses?  
Suga spent a few seconds taking this in with his still sleepy eyes before he hunched over and braced his hands against his thighs, breathing heavily. "Shut up." He said in reply to hearing Daichi's footsteps approach.  
"I haven't said anything." Daichi retorted, halting. Suga looked up, flipping his sweaty bangs off of his face. He needed a haircut. Daichi was looking down at him with his eyebrows raised and a gentle, almost teasing smile on his lips. His hair was spiked up with sweat but other than that he looked no worse for wear after an almost two mile run up a mountain.  
"You're thinking too loudly and it's annoying." Daichi's eyes widened, then he smiled and crossed his arms over his chest, leaning his weight back on one leg and looking up at the sky.  
"What am I thinking about?" Suga squinted at him, then forced himself to stand up straight and stretch his arms above his head, letting out a loud groan as his vertebrae cracked one by one.  
"You're thinking about how this literature teacher you've known since high school is losing his touch." He gave a smile as though asking Daichi to challenge his assumption. "Despite being the volleyball coach." He added after a second, partly to rub salt back into Daichi's wounds. He knew the other had wanted the position, knew that the job of an architect didn't quite allow enough free time to do so, and knew that his old friend was trying hard not to let it get to him. Smiling and letting out a sigh, Sugawara started pulling his long hair up into a ponytail to get it off of his face. "I'm out of shape." He said to Daichi, to which Daichi only nodded. He looked back down at his friend and gently beckoned Suga to follow him to the cliff's edge, where he dropped himself to the ground, feet dangling over the edge. Suga followed, sitting about a foot away. The ground was covered in sharp rocks, ones that he might have been able to identify if he’d decided to pursue geology instead of classic literature, and he wondered for the millionth time why Daichi had woken him up at an ungodly hour of the morning on a Saturday for a run. He balled up his fists and moved then from the ground to his lap.  
"Have you had sensei and coach’s kids on your team yet?" Daichi asked, absently digging his fingers into the loose ground cover. His nails were always so clean...Suga shook his head, both to clear his thoughts and to answer Daichi.  
"No...They're...How old are they?" He started doing the math on his fingers. "Ten...? It's been twelve years since we graduated so..." The teacher chuckled, shrugging his shoulders. "It'll be a couple of years, yet. But it'll be nice to have some Ukais around." He sighed again, less happily this time. He didn't like being up this early. It was too melancholy, made him think too much.  
And Daichi knew that, so there must have been a damn good reason for him to ask him out on a jog like this. He leaned over, jostling his friend's shoulder with his own. "You're being awfully quiet. What's up?" He looked over at Daichi and his breath hitched in his throat. It'd been a long time since he'd seen that expression; deeply contemplating, slightly sad, heartbreakingly distant. Biting his lip, he leaned over again and this time didn't pull away.  
"Shove off." Daichi said under his breath, mock angry as he leaned his head on Suga's. If they hadn’t spent three years on a volleyball team together Suga might have found the feeling of his sweaty cheek on his hair unpleasant, but they had, and he didn’t.  
They sat like that for a long time, long enough for the sun to rise above the mountains and cast its gentle orange glow into the valley below. Long enough for the crickets to stop chirping, replaced by the birds. Long enough to hear the sounds of morning life from the town far below, the town the two of them had been calling home for close to three decades.  
Despite the rising sun, Suga shivered. The spring air was still chilly this early in the morning.  
"Do you remember when we used to talk about making it big as volleyball stars and traveling around the world on the national team?" Daichi said, startling his companion. Sugawara smiled and nodded, knowing Daichi would feel the motion.  
"And then we settled down right here in this small town and never looked back, right?"  
"Well I mean...You still play volleyball."  
"Clearly you've been keeping in shape, though." He laughed loudly. "I can't believe you dragged me out for a dawn run to tell me you wanted to try out for the national team again. Won't Ushijima be surprised to see us." The joke didn't have quite the impact he was hoping for. Daichi said nothing in response for a long time.  
"That's...Not why."  
"I kinda figured."  
Daichi leaned away from Suga and leaned forward instead, planting his hands firmly on the sharp ground and tilting his body forward to look down the face of the cliff. The gust of air blowing up the mountain rustled the man's short hair. It made Suga nervous.  
"I'm moving overseas."  
The statement was so sudden, so nonchalant, so achingly precise that Suga felt it like a knife to his heart, slicing down and around, cutting out hollow shaped like Daichi's presence.  
"You're...What? When? Where? How long- When did you-" the questions came quickly, pouring past Suga's lips as his mind traveled through the ramifications of a life without his closest friend, of the changes it would bring about. It would be like...He couldn't even think what it would be like. He'd never thought it was possible. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he'd always thought that the two of them would stay together, whether that be living out the rest of their days uneventfully in their hometown or traveling the world together. One of those options was...More likely than the other. But one could always dream.  
"I'm moving to follow a career prospect, next week, America, on the East Coast, at least three years, it was finalized a month ago." Daichi answered, slowly following all the questions Suga had rapidly asked. His answers were delivered in soldier’s cadence. No undue pauses. No time to think. Boom boom boom, like steady gunshots.  
"Next...Week..." Suga's eyes widened. He wanted to shout. He wanted to scream that Daichi, his best friend, his constant companion for so many years, couldn't just leave. He wanted to make a ruckus and punch him until he conceded and agreed to stick around. But he didn't do any of that. Instead, he snapped his mouth shut and stared resolutely ahead, prepared to blame the moisture in his eyes on the chilly breeze blowing up the face of the cliff. He wondered if Daichi's resolve was forced or if he really didn't care about his moving away. His leaving Suga behind.  
The sun peeked out more. The sweat on Suga’s face started to dry.  
“I didn’t want to tell you because...You’d be sad and...I...I don’t want to do it. Not really.” Daichi said, breaking the silence Suga was just about to classify as awkward and heartbreaking. “I just...I can’t not. My job is-”  
“Your job is more important than what you’ve got here?” Suga asked, looking at Daichi again. The wind had started to pull his bangs out of his ponytail, blowing the sweaty strands across his face. The unasked question was whether he himself fell under the list of things less important than the job. The pain was real, but he didn’t need to hurt Daichi back.  
Daichi heaved a sigh and met Suga’s gaze. “It’s not that it’s...My career is...Well it’s a big opportunity for me. And...And I’ll be back so...I mean maybe.” What was even more painful than the unspoken rejection was the way Daichi’s words were breaking, the way his voice was cracking. He’d always had the most confident voice, one that could gently issue orders that would always be followed, a voice that resonated with stability and strength. And presence. Suga’s eyebrows knit with concern and he reached over to squeeze the other man’s shoulder.  
“You’re gonna come back? You’re planning on it?” Daichi nodded. Suga closed his eyes and was grateful, at least, for that. “Then...You leave in a week? Seven days from now?” Daichi nodded again. “Alright then.” The cogs in his brain were turning. Maybe it was true, what they said about running and its link to mental aptitude. Suga looked back down the edge of the cliff, then scooted himself back until he felt safe to stand up on his running wearied legs. It was painful to stand, he wished he’d stretched more. Gritting his teeth, he pushed himself to his full height and held out his hand to Daichi, who was looking at him curiously over his shoulder. Apparently taking the hint, Daichi pushed himself smoothly to his feet and hesitantly took Suga’s hand.  
His hand was shaking. He was trying not to let it show, but the tremors traveled up Suga’s arm and lodged themselves in his chest.  
Suga took it back. Daichi's resolve was being maintained with effort. How much he cared was etched into every crease his face was too young to have.  
“I’ve got seven days to convince you to stay, don’t I?” Suga said, squeezing Daichi’s hand and taking a step forward.  
“I can’t stay, Koushi.” He didn’t often use Suga’s given name, favouring the nickname he’d had since his childhood. Suga’s chin dropped and his eyes teared up a little bit.  
He took another step forward and dropped Daichi’s hand, wrapping his arms around him and pulling him into a strong, sweaty embrace. He withdrew just enough to whisper in his friend's ear, hating the way his throat seized and his voice broke.  
“Then I have seven days to convince you to come back.”


	2. Date One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We're going to be alright, you know that?

Sugawara checked his appearance in the reflection of his front window as he raced out of his flat, snatching his keys, wallet, and phone. He paused for a second and tried to smooth down the lick of hair that stood up stubbornly. Sighing, he gave it up and threw open the door, almost forgetting to lock it as he sprinted down the street toward the meetup point.  
“That’s why I grew it out, I remember now.” Suga muttered under his breath as he hurried along, his legs protesting after their mistreatment the day before. Immediately after returning from the run, he’d gone and got a haircut, and he was already regretting it. His head felt too light, and the wind blowing through his too short hair was a weird feeling as he flew down the street, almost slipping as he turned a nearly missed corner.  
At last his destination came into view and he slowed to a walk, trying to control his breathing and look at ease as he strolled the rest of the way to meet Daichi, who appeared to be in conversation with the store owner, a man who had finally outgrown his bleached blonde hair and had two young boys playing around in the street in front of the store and a younger girl clinging to his leg, peeking out from behind his apron. Making one last effort to arrange his hair, Suga closed the distance between himself and the two others, whistling and waving at them. Daichi and Keishin turned to look and Daichi waved back. The store owner just scowled and nodded.  
“Sorry I’m late.” Suga said, words coming out more breathless than he would have liked. He was taking what he hoped were subtle breaths in through his nose.  
“Did you run here?” Daichi asked, adjusting his glasses with one hand.  
“Uh...No, why?” Daichi’s cocked eyebrow spoke millions. Suga turned his attention to his former coach and bowed slightly. “How’s about two free pork buns for your two favourite Karasuno High Alums?” He asked with a wink, putting his palms together in front of his face in a semblance of prayer. Keishin snorted.  
“Fat chance. You don’t get where I’ve gotten in life by giving away-”  
“Sugawara-san?” Came a voice from inside the store. A moment later, a face that didn’t seem to have aged a day in twelve years popped out from the store and broke into a smile. “I thought I heard your voice!” Takeda emerged from the store, wiping his hands off onto his apron. “Did you finish grading those tests?”  
Sugawara laughed nervously, . “Not yet. I made the mistake of having an essay portion on it…” Takeda attempted to give him a critical look.  
“Then what are you going out and about? Shouldn’t you be working on those?” His stern look was offset by the wink he punctuated his statement with. Suga shrugged, enjoying the banter.  
“All work and no play makes Koushi a dull boy.”  
“You’re not done with work? Then what are you-” Suga waved off the beginning of Daichi’s question, shushing him.  
“Seven days, remember? Seven dates.” He smiled, a little sadly, at his friend. “I’ll get them done, don’t worry. You’re more important.” He resisted the urge to snicker as a blush crept up Daichi’s cheeks and the man nervously busied himself with his glasses. He was going to miss him. A whole hell of a lot.  
“So then this date is trying to con pork buns out of our former coach?”  
“You’re a cheap date. And I didn’t have a whole lot of time to plan for this, you know? Be gentle.” Suga accidentally caught the eye of Keishin and Takeda’s daughter, who hadn’t left her place of hiding behind her father’s leg. Suga smiled and dropped into a crouch. “Hey there Emiko. You can come out, I won’t bite.” The girl looked up between Takeda and Keishin hesitantly, then stepped out from behind the store owner’s leg and nervously clenched her hands in front of her, staring at Koushi. It was clear she wasn’t used to being the centre of attention, and with two older brothers, Suga could understand that. He waved a little bit. “Don’t you think your papa is really mean for not giving his two favourite students pork buns?” He said with a pout. The girl looked surprised, then giggled a little. Takeda rolled his eyes and walked back into the store, calling for his sons to follow which, after a few more summons, they did.  
“He acts like a big meanie but…” She looked up at Keishin, who was giving her a stern look, then she quickly walked up to Suga and whispered in his ear, cupping her hands around her mouth. “He always smiles when he talks about you guys!” Suga opened his eyes comically wide, looking at her and covering his mouth.  
“No way!” The girl nodded emphatically, then gently poked Suga’s beauty mark like she always tried to when he stopped by the store, then she ran full tilt at Daichi, hugging his legs hard. Daichi laughed, knocked slightly off balance, and reached down to ruffle her hair, putting her already lopsided pigtails at an even more rakish angle.  
“Still learning to do hair, Keishin?” Daichi asked, bending down and hefting Emiko into his arms. She promptly pulled his glasses off of his face and put them on herself, giggling loudly when she looked over at Suga and saw him squinting hard at her.  
Keishin, for his part, bristled a little. “I-it’s harder than you’d think.” He said defensively. He sighed, scratching the back of his head and reaching for a cigarette out of reflex, then remembered Takeda had made him kick the habit as soon as their children entered their lives. “Still weird to hear you lot call me that.” Suga laughed, turning his attention from Emiko to her father.  
“We could keep calling you coach, but then your boys would be confused when they get on my team.” He said with a wry smile. “Or Ukai-san.”  
“Bah!” Keishin waved his hand and shook his head. “Then you'll just be thinking of gramps. Keishin is fine.” He gave a tight smile, trying to look severe as he held out his hands for his daughter. “Just take your pork buns and leave.” Suga pumped his fist, jogging past Keishin into the store.  
“Thanks!” He quickly grabbed two pork buns, bid farewell to Takeda and his sons, who were busy scrubbing the inside of the store’s windows, and rejoined Diachi on the street. He was just taking his glasses back from Emiko and bowing to Keishin. Keishin waved them off, scoffing, but Suga saw him smile as soon as he thought he was out of sight.  
“Let’s hurry before he changes his mind and shakes me down for my lunch money.” Suga ushered him away, handing him one of the pork buns. Daichi laughed, gratefully taking it.  
“If I didn’t know better I’d say you had a rough time with lunch money in school. Don’t tell me you were being bullied behind my back?” Suga scoffed, mock offended, and placed his hand against his chest.  
“Please, I was very popular. And I feel like no one would’ve dared touch me anyway, being friends with Asahi and all.” Daichi laughed at that, taking a bite of his pork bun and then discreetly fanning his mouth.  
“Hot.” He managed. Suga smirked, blowing on his food before taking a more climate controlled bite. The two walked in silence for a few minutes, one chewing thoughtfully and the other nursing a burn on the roof of his mouth. Suga looked around at the buildings they were aimlessly walking past; he felt like he knew the story behind every suspicious stain or spiderweb thin crack in the concrete. That was impossible, of course, but he’d spent so many years walking these streets, talking to the man beside him. Or in this case, just watching him, observing how he carefully took a second bite, how he glanced about and occasionally smiled, no doubt remembering an inside joke or particularly foggy morning that resulted in whacking the sign off of the local sports store, how he eventually felt Suga’s gaze on him and turned, eyebrows uplifted.  
Suga broke the silence. “Kids are cute, huh?” He took a big bite and stared at Daichi, gauging a reaction. His friend’s face softened and he nodded.  
“They’re good parents, too.”  
“Yeah.” Suga agreed quietly, watching his feet at they continued walking slowly through the town. After a few seconds, he looked up again. “You think you’ll ever have kids?” Daichi thought for a moment, taking another bite of his pork bun and pointing at a dent in the butcher shop’s front door that they both knew was the result of them trying other sports when they were young. Apparently, baseball bats slipped out of hands a lot easier than they’d thought.  
“I probably will,” Daichi mused, looking with dawning suspicion at Suga, “My mom might kill me if I don’t provide her with grandchildren.” Suga snorted a laugh.  
“You make it sound like some kind of contract!” Daichi shrugged.  
“You’ve met my mom. But yeah I...I’d like to raise children. You to, right? You’ve always liked them, and you’re way better with them than me.”  
“I wouldn’t say that. I mean yeah I want kids but you’re pretty good with them yourself. Little Emiko seems pretty taken with you.” Suga nudged his friend, harder than he’d meant to. “I’m not going to have to fight a little girl for you, am I?” Daichi laughed. The sound was warm and seemed to reverberate all the way up through Suga’s chest, leaving a toasty afterglow. Would he really have to go three years without hearing it in person? Without trying to work around time zones and international telephone rates?  
“You’ve never fought for me to begin with,” Daichi prefaced, polishing off his pork bun and licking his fingers, wiping his hands off on his jeans, “And she’s only smitten with my glasses. I don’t think Takeda lets her touch his.”  
Suga’s heart sank a little. Daichi’s words were painfully true. He’d never actually...Well, he’d always figured a friendship was enough, that trying to take this further would only result in disappointment and hurt. He couldn’t say anything to that. It wasn’t fair after thirty years, and wasn’t practical for seven days. He walked in silence, wishing he’d thought about what he was going to say.  
The idea had come so quickly that he hadn’t really given much thought to how, exactly, he was going to convince Daichi to stay or, failing that, to return after the promised three years. Today’s outing, date, he wanted to call it, was based on two principles. The first was that he was a busy man and had limited planning time, and the second was that he wanted to prove the simple could be worth saving. Or something like that. The town held memories for both of them, and maybe he could remind Daichi of that. It was an exercise in nostalgia.  
Suga sullenly finished eating his pork bun, wishing the mood hadn’t suddenly turned sour. Forcing a smile back to his face, the man looked at Daichi. His eyes drifted down to his hand and he toyed with the idea of grabbing it casually but pushed the thought from his mind. “It would be pretty hard to raise kids in America.” He blurted out. Even he would admit it wasn’t the most subtle approach. Daichi agreed, from the way he snorted and shook his head. His gaze remained turned away from Suga.  
“I guess it would be...My English isn’t perfect.”  
“I was always better at that than you.” Suga jibed with a chuckle, “Maybe I should be the one moving overseas.”  
“But you’re a high school-”  
“Sh.”  
“They aren’t transf-”  
“I know.”  
“So why would-”  
“Stop.” Suga put an end to Daichi’s logic spiral by body slamming him from the side. He bounced off. Daichi seemed unaffected. Rubbing his now sore shoulder and wondering just how much Daichi worked out, Suga sighed. “I’m saying I don’t want you to go.”  
“You’ve made that very obvious,” Daichi observed without much emotion, “Seven dates is a pretty big commitment.”  
“But! But I’m also saying...The reason I don’t want you to go is because...I don’t want to be apart from you.”  
The streets of their hometown were pretty quiet when no one was speaking. In the distance a dog was barking and children were laughing. A gentle, chilly wind blew dry leaves down the street. A far off bell was chiming and the whirring of gears forewarned of an approaching cyclist. Suga gently urged his friend to move aside to avoid the bicycle.  
“I’m going to miss you, you know.” Daichi’s voice was startling. “I wish I didn’t have to go.” Daichi smiled at Suga, finally looking him in the eye again. Daichi’s smile was usually so easy going and warm, but now it was only creasing his face with effort.  
_I’m an idiot_ , Suga realized, not for the first time, _This has to be so much harder for him than for me_. Realization dawning on him, Suga halted suddenly, latching his hand on Daichi’s shoulder. It didn’t take much persuasion to get him to stop, but it took more to get him to look at him. Finally, Suga placed his hands on Daichi’s cheeks and turned his head so he could look at him. He chewed his lip as he thought of the right words, the words that would come out comforting but not pityingly. Finally, he patted Daichi’s face and frowned.  
“Are you okay?” He asked softly, voice hoarse. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d faced a problem head on rather than laughing it off and hoping for the best. Daichi hesitated, but nodded. Suga’s frown deepened. He stood up on his tiptoes and tilted his forehead against the other man’s. “Please don’t lie to me.” He felt a shudder pass through Daichi’s body, one that felt much like the beginning of a sob. Feeling his own face contort into the beginnings of crying, Suga dropped back flat onto his feet and tugged a surprisingly willing Daichi down for a hug. Face buried into his friend's shoulder, his muffled words still seemed too loud to him. “If you’re lonely, you’ll call me. If you miss me, we can video chat. I’ll send you big expensive boxes of food and random junk. I’ll start working out so we can go running when you get back.” They stood like that for a long time, Daichi taking deep, shuddering breaths and Suga holding him tightly, hands gripping the back of his sweater. Maybe people saw them, maybe they didn’t. He didn’t care and got the impression Daichi was of the same mind.  
At length, Daichi sniffed and withdrew. Suga missed his warmth as soon as he pulled away, but smiled gently.  
“You’re going to be alright.” Suga said softly, jokingly punching Daichi’s shoulder. Daichi acted hurt as he nodded, pulling off his glasses to rub at his eyes.  
“I know.” Suga nodded, reached out to straighten up Daichi’s ruffled clothes, then swept his arm in front of him to indicate the path they’d been walking. “Shall we continue?”  
Daichi tilted his head to the side. “Are we...Going anywhere?” Suga shook his head, a blush creeping up his cheeks.  
“Not particularly. Just wandering.” He looked nervously at Daichi and was elated to see his soft smile.  
“That sounds perfect.” Daichi turned and continued walking the indicated direction. After a second, Suga jogged a few steps to catch up, then fell in step behind them.  
His hand brushed Daichi’s as their arms swung at their sides.  
Suga withdrew his arm and pushed his hands into the pockets of his jeans, humming casually under his breath.  
“Your hair looks nice.” Daichi said out of the blue. Suga’s eyebrows raised, then he laughed.  
“I’m glad.”  
A moment later Daichi spoke again.  
“I’m looking forward to the other six.” Suga nodded.  
“I’m glad.” He said again, more warmly this time.  
Nothing more really needed to be said just then, their words had gotten to each other.  
And Suga had six more times to say them again.


End file.
